The Essex Serpent

The Essex Serpent is a 2016 novel by British author Sarah Perry.[1] The book is the second novel by Perry and was released on 27 May 2016 in the United Kingdom through Serpent's Tail, an imprint of Profile Books.

The Essex Serpent
Cover art of the first edition
AuthorSarah Perry
Cover artistPeter Dyer
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreGothic, Historical fiction
PublisherSerpent's Tail
Publication date
27 May 2016
Pages432
ISBN9781781255445

Set in the Victorian era, in the year 1893, it tells the tale of Cora Seaborne, a woman relishing her recent freedom from an abusive husband, who moves from London to a small village in Essex and becomes intrigued by the idea that it might be haunted by a mythological sea serpent.

Plot

After being widowed when her wealthy, abusive husband dies of throat cancer, Cora Seaborne decides to ignore the trappings of her London society life and take up amateur palaeontology. Vacationing in Colchester with her her son, Francis, and her companion, Martha, Cora is intrigued by a ruin caused by an earthquake which was rumoured to have awakened the Essex Serpent a mythical sea dragon. Cora believes that the beast could be a kind of dinosaur that has survived extinction without being discovered. Meeting two London acquaintances, the married Charles and Katherine Ambrose, Cora tells them of her theories. The Ambroses let her know of a friend of theirs, the Reverend William Ransome, and his family, who live in the small village of Aldwinter where there is a carved serpent in one of the pews of the church. The Ambroses write an introduction for Cora, introducing her to the Ransome family and Cora goes to visit them. She and the Reverend are surprised to find they had already previously met under unfavourable circumstances, each mistaking the other for a tramp. Cora becomes fast friends with the Reverend, his wife Stella and their children, and moves to Aldwinter to continue her research into the serpent.

In Aldwinter the children and locals become increasingly convinced that the serpent is real, calling it the Blackwater beast, and is waiting to attack them, something that irritates Will Ransome. He and Cora repeatedly argue over his faith and refusal to believe in the serpent, though their fighting draws them closer to one another. After a visit to the local school results in the schoolchildren falling into fits, Cora seeks to see what went wrong by inviting her friend, Dr. Luke Garnett, down from London to examine the schoolchildren. Luke puts the Ransomes' eldest daughter, Joanna, under hypnosis with the consent of her mother, Stella. Will walks in on the scene and is enraged, causing a serious rift between himself and Cora. During the rift, both Cora and Will begin to realize they are entangled in an emotional affair, as do Martha and Dr. Luke, who has long been in love with Cora himself.

Will confesses his feelings to Cora in a letter and shortly after discovers that Stella is sick with tuberculosis and near death. Luke also confesses his feelings to Cora via letter. Cora is angered by them both as her abusive marriage has left her wary of men. She ignores Will and writes an angry letter to Luke, only discovering later that her letter reached him on the same day he was left injured in a knife attack and is now permanently maimed in a way that has ended his medical career.

In Aldwinter a mysterious stink overtakes the town with the villagers believing it is related to the Blackwater Beast. Going to the shore they discover only a gigantic dying fish, leading the villagers to rejoice that the serpent was never real.

Ashamed of her behaviour towards Luke, Cora allows Katherine to persuade her to return to Aldwinter so as not to abandon her friends, the Ransomes. Returning she and Will are once again strongly attracted to one another and consummate their relationship.

Joanna and her friend meanwhile discover the Blackwater beast which turns out only to be an old boat previously thought to have been washed away. However Cora comes to realize that Stella, who is deluded from her illness, has gone to the "beast" to die. Cora and Will are able to rescue Stella.

The Ransome children are sent to the Ambroses while Stella awaits her death, Will finds himself equally happy with Stella while still in love with Cora, Luke finds a kind of peace living with his friend Spencer, who has also been jilted in love, and Cora moves to London. Living alone with her companion Martha having fallen in love and her son in boarding school, Cora is happy in her solitude but continues to write to Will, urging him to reunite with her one day.

Reception

Described by The Guardian as a "word-of-mouth bookselling success",[2] the publication noted in May 2017 that The Essex Serpent had sold over 200,000 hardback copies.[2] Publisher Serpent's Tail had originally set a modest sales target of 5,000 hardback copies for the title.[3] In September 2017, publishing industry title The Bookseller reported that The Essex Serpent had sold 287,566 copies across all editions, according to Nielsen BookScan data.[4]

The Essex Serpent won the British Book Awards for 2016 Book of the Year[5] and Waterstones Book of the Year 2016.

Adaptation

In 2020 a planned television adaptation was announced to be directed by Clio Barnard with Keira Knightley starring. Knightley later dropped out of the project citing difficulties obtaining childcare due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.[6]

References
  1. M. John Harrison (16 June 2016). "The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry review – a compulsive novel of ideas". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  2. Cain, Sian (9 May 2017). "The Essex Serpent adds top British Book Award to prize haul". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  3. Onwuemezi, Natasha (8 May 2017). "The Essex Serpent crowned British Book Awards' Book of the Year". The Bookseller. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  4. Onwuemezi, Natasha (11 September 2017). "'Essex Serpent' helps Profile to 7% sales rise". The Bookseller. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  5. Jennifer Senior (7 June 2017). "A Spirited Widow and a Monstrous Serpent Propel a Lush Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  6. Kanter, Jake. "Apple's 'The Essex Serpent' Goes On Hiatus After Keira Knightley Backs Out Amid UK Coronavirus Outbreak".

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